A star can be a celebrity but is a celebrity really a star?

These days you can become famous for No reason what so ever and then become a celebrity. But is that the same thing as being a (true) star?

I see on an upcoming season of dancing with the stars, they have Kim Kardashian as one of the star dancers. She is famous for a sex tape and a big fat ash...nothing else.

What do you have to do to be called a star as opposed to being a celebrity?

I always thought to be a star one had to have a lead role in something. Celebrity has gotten to mean 'known by site or reputation by those who have never met the person'. I will sometimes sit and watch some entertainment show with the wife and she gets mad because I keep saying "who is that? What do they do?".

As you've said, you can do nothing and become a celebrity; a star has to do something truly spectacular. Stars can fall from grace, and lose their stardom ("He's a fading star") you don't, however, hear the term "fading celebrity."

I suppose the difference is that a celebrity is defined by the recognition they receive from the public while a star is defined by the appreciation and adoration of their work by the public.

Santa, Josh: Good criteria. "Stars," at least in the Dark Ages when I was growing up, were defined by their work (usually, though not exclusively, on the Big Screen).

I think the turning point was the wedding of Diana to Charles in 198...2? 1983? Diana was "famous for being famous," rather than for anything she'd actually done. [Readers: No need to respond with a laundry list of ribbon cutting ceremonies to which England's rose lent her famous blush]. As such, she became the poster child for today's "celebrities," whose fame is the result of notoriety rather than accomplishment.

I'd rather be defined as an "Entertainer".

The whole thing is confusing to me. I know one gal who is a pretty major star (I knew well before she became who she became) and I just can't see her as anything but the girl she use to be which is far different than what she is like in front of a camera. I like my stars to be unknown to me I guess.

You pay to go stars at work on screen or tv or theater.

Sure you do, they're on VH1C's "celebrity" shows all the time!

"Stars" are entertainers with personality, presence and charisma.

Wiki says of Kim:

"Kimberly Noel Kardashian (born October 21, 1980) is an American celebutante/socialite, model, apparel retailer[1] and television personality. She is perhaps best known for her social life, stolen sex tape, and her role on the E! reality show Keeping Up with the Kardashians."


What should they call the show? Dancing with the....

Celebrity is fleeting and short lived, while real stardom last. Two stars that readily come to mind are Morgan Freeman and Michel Cane. They may not be the leading men; their characters dominate the scenes and often save the movie.

Both in the newer batmans, and those movies were good!

A star is someone who can cause people to fall in love with her at first sight. People pay to se them, not what they are doing.

Stars are constantly being persued by the paparazzi, and of course celebrities are constantly being persued by the paparazzi. I hope that answers you question Justin. I also think that if you put lipstick on a pig the paparazzi would be persue her too.

A has-been celebrity shows up on the Hollywood Squares.

A has-been star can take over a stage just by walking on, and win over the audience with their first word. Think of the old worn-out Judy Garland ... no audience she couuldn't charm with her first song, no show she didn't own just because she was in it.

Another definition I've heard: A star is someone who, if [for instance] if Julie Andrews is in it in whatever capacity, it's a Julie Andrews movie.

And another, about Robert Mitchum: "he doesn't have to say a word to make everybody else look like a hole in the screen."

That's star quality ...

What? Paris WHO?

These days, does it matter anymore?

So then I guess, what you're saying is,

A Star will always be celebrated but a Celebrity isn't always a Star.